Myanmar Rebels Threaten Chinese-owned Mines

Myanmar's rebel People's Defence Army (PDF) has threatened to attack three copper mines operated by Chinese companies if they do not shut them down, foreign media reported on April 23. The three copper mines are laibitang, Sabitang and Qixingtang copper mines located in Salinki Township, Monywa County, Sagaing Province, invested and operated by Wanbao Minerals (Myanmar) Copper Industry Co., LTD., a subsidiary of China North Industries Group, collectively known as Monywa Copper Mines.

Laibitang Copper Mine is wanbao's largest overseas investment project and the largest hydrometallurgical copper project in Asia at present, with a total investment of usd 1.065 billion and a hydrometallurgical copper production capacity of 100,000 tons of cathode copper per year. According to Wikipedia, in July 2013, the First Mining Company, part of the Ministry of Mines, re-signed a revenue-sharing contract with Myanmar Economic Holding Company Limited (MEHL) and Wanbao Minerals, under which the Government will share 51% of the profits and MEHL and Wanbao Minerals will share 49%. In addition, 2% of the net profits from the copper project will be used for social and environmental investments.

After the coup in February last year, the opposition declared a national unity government that promoted Win Myint and Aung SAN Suu Kyi, who were detained by the military, as president and state counsellor, calling themselves the legitimate government of Myanmar. On May 5 last year, the GNA announced the formation of THE PDF as its armed force to wage an armed struggle against the military government. Three days later, the military government declared the GNA a terrorist organization. In its opposition to the junta, PDF has made companies linked to the junta its main targets.

On Thursday, 16 rebel groups issued a joint statement saying mining revenues would go to myanmar's top military officers and cronies. "We'll wait and see if they run their project," a PDF spokesman told AFP. If they do, we will attack them." The military has deployed security forces to the area, he said, and Wanbao has been on a hiring spree, reportedly hiring 300 workers. He argued that despite years of operation, Chinese-owned mines have not benefited the local people and urged workers to join the ongoing civil disobedience campaign against the mines and join the strike, demanding that those who work for these enterprises leave their jobs by May 5. If workers ignore strike action and are involved in mine attacks, they will not be held liable. In February, PDF was reported to have attacked the Laibitong mine with rockets.

它也报告说,今年1月7日,three iron towers providing electricity to Sinochrome nickel's Dagunshan nickel mine in Myanmar were blown up, forcing production to halt, and PDF claimed responsibility. The mine is located in the junction of Mandalay province and Sagaing Province, 230 kilometers north of Mandalay City. The design mining scale of the project is 1.32 million tons of laterite ore, 1.23 million tons of raw ore smelting, and 21,538 tons of nickel iron containing nickel per year. The dagunshan Nickel mine in Myanmar has a designed recoverable ore reserve of 23.88 million tons with an average grade of 1.96% and a nickel metal content of 467,300 tons. Large reserves, good quality, shallow burial, suitable for open-pit mining. Smelting nickel iron by fire - rotary kiln reduction + electric furnace smelting process.

Last week's joint statement was the first public warning about Chinese-owned projects that have been largely safe since the coup, despite rebel attacks on police and soldiers guarding them.

It is worth noting that some countries and ngos have gone to great lengths to encourage locals to attack Chinese-owned copper mines. In July last year, the US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security announced it was adding Wanbao to its list of entities, restricting us entities from exporting to it. In November, a group called Publish What You Pay Australia published a report titled "How Chinese Mining Investment Funds myanmar's military," which concluded that the Monywa copper and Dagunshan nickel mines paid about $725 million to the military in the 2020-2021 fiscal year. "Given the junta's shortage of funds and foreign exchange, we believe there is a high risk that mining revenues will be used to purchase weapons and equipment that will be used against the Burmese people... China's continued business ties with myanmar's military... May further inflame anti-China sentiment among the Burmese people."